The Michigan West Coast Chamber of Commerce hopes to serve as the nonpartisan, “sane center” in the upcoming Ottawa County primaries following nearly two years of “turmoil” and less-than-predictable local government.
That’s according to Jodi Owczarski, who has served for more than seven years, including the past two as president and CEO, with the organization that represents businesses in the greater Holland and Zeeland area.
While political and social fragmentation has been growing on a national scale, Ottawa County has represented a hotbed since January 2023. That’s when the far-right political faction known as Ottawa Impact took office with a large majority on the 11-member Ottawa County Board of Commissioners.
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A key storyline emerging ahead of the Aug. 6 primary is whether Ottawa Impact can maintain its county board majority, which already has narrowed over the past 18 months as members broke away or were recalled. Ottawa Impact also is affiliated with candidates in contested Republican primary races for county prosecutor, sheriff and treasurer. (See full list below.)
Indeed, nine of the 11 county commission seats in which Ottawa Impact is engaged this election feature GOP primaries, pitting an Ottawa Impact-backed candidate against a more moderate Republican challenger.
Whether or not that represents a referendum against Ottawa Impact, Owczarski said it’s a “very intentional” move by citizens to re-engage in politics following the group’s controversial approach to governing.
“The last year and a half, things have been in turmoil. It’s a concept that I think has been pretty unfamiliar along the lakeshore,” Owczarski said. “Whether you are a Republican or Democrat, it seems like the government structure here has been pretty stable over time, predictable. … We certainly don’t feel that same sense (now).
“This isn’t something that’s limited to just our area. From a chamber and industry standpoint, we’ve recognized political and social fragmentation as one of the leading threats to our business communities, and we’re certainly experiencing that here. The West Coast Chamber strives to be the sane center in all of this.”
Recent survey data may support Owczarski’s concerns about the influence of politics on the business community. The West Coast Chamber commissioned a 2024 Ottawa County economic forecast that included a survey of 49 chamber members in late 2023. While the business confidence index remained similar to the prior year, 81% of the respondents said the “political environment will negatively affect their business.” That compares to 71% across the broader West Michigan region, according to the forecast produced by Paul Isely, associate dean and professor of economics at Grand Valley State University’s Seidman College of Business.
While the data did not specify which level of government businesses were concerned about, “I can say that the view was far more negative (on the) effect of government than others in West Michigan or from the Ottawa County survey the year before,” Isely said in an email to Crain’s.
Referendum?
Founded by county board Chairman Joe Moss and co-chair Sylvia Rhoadea, Ottawa Impact has fielded criticism from both Democrats and Republicans. Early on in its term, the board eliminated the county’s diversity, equity and inclusion office, which had been partially funded or supported by several large local employers, including Gentex Corp., Haworth Inc. and Shape Corp.
Since then, the Ottawa Impact-led board has been embroiled in, or linked to, multiple lawsuits challenging its employment practices and attempts to oust county personnel from their jobs if they didn’t align with the group’s philosophy. Perhaps the most high-profile case involved the board’s 13-month attempt to fire the county’s health officer, Adeline Hembley, who agreed to drop a lawsuit against the Ottawa Impact county board members in exchange for keeping her job.
“This isn’t aligned to any particular political party, but when there’s a lack of transparency, a lack of process, that’s concerning,” Owczarski said.
The nonpartisan West Coast Chamber doesn’t have a political action committee, nor does it endorse candidates.
Meanwhile, Ottawa Impact has the full support of the Ottawa County Republican Party, which has dug in to support Ottawa Impact’s social and political views. For example, in May the Ottawa County GOP in a newsletter called for effectively boycotting dozens of businesses that provided financial or in-kind support for Grand Haven Pride, which hosts an annual festival supporting the LGBTQ+ community.
“Take a look at the businesses supporting these events and ask yourself if this is the type of business you want to spend your hard earned tax dollars supporting,” according to the newsletter, which lists 30 small and large businesses in the area that had pledged support for Grand Haven Pride. The county GOP specifically brought attention to public drag shows during the 2023 festival.
The Rev. Jared Cramer, rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven and sponsorship lead for Grand Haven Pride who organizes businesses’ financial support, said he reached out to “well over” 200 businesses seeking support for the event.
“There are some who don’t feel like they can support Pride for fear of boycotts, but that’s far from the majority,” Cramer said in an interview. “The (Ottawa County) GOP kind of called out all of our sponsors in their newsletter with a kind of call to arms. The result of that was I got a lot more sponsors, because people want to be on that list.”
Cramer is currently suing Ottawa County, claiming religious discrimination after he says county board leaders rebuffed his requests to give an opening prayer at a county board meeting. U.S. District Judge Jane Beckering earlier this month rejected the county’s request to dismiss the case.
Field Reichardt, a longtime GOP political organizer who most recently has worked informally with anti-Ottawa Impact candidates, says this year’s primaries are “beyond a referendum” against Ottawa Impact.
“I see this as an effort by an amazing coalition that includes conservative Republicans, moderate Republicans, Independents and Democrats to bring Ottawa County back to the stolid, carefully managed government that we were famous for for years,” he said.
Voter turnout could play a significant role in the primary’s outcome, Reichardt said. For example, Democratic Commissioner Chris Kleinjans took office earlier this year after defeating Ottawa Impact-backed former Commissioner Lucy Ebel in a May 7 recall election for the District 2 seat.
“More people voted in that election than voted in the primary in 2022,” he said.
The August 2022 primary drew 2,788 voters while the recall election this May brought out 4,167, according to election results.
Kleinjans is currently suing his former employer, MSU Extension, claiming that his firing in June violated his First Amendment rights and stemmed from political pressure from Ottawa Impact.
Meanwhile, Reichardt cited three county commission seats that could potentially flip from Ottawa Impact-backed commissioners to GOP opponents: District 1, which spans Olive Township and Park and Port Sheldon townships along the lakeshore; District 5, Chairman Moss’s territory in the southeastern portion of the county; and District 11, a large swath of the county northeast of the Grand River.
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